Mining is the process of removing a desired in-ground material or mineral. Such materials may include precious metals, oil, gas, and other mined substances. Mining operations often remove and refine aggregate ore from remote locations. This removal and refinement process requires moving heavy machinery and ore processing equipment to the remote location. Moving heavy equipment is costly, labor intensive, time consuming, and can adversely affect the environment. In order to promote efficiency while protecting the environment, mining operations first explore an area to determine the potential for the presence of aggregate, oil, gas, or other target substances.
Traditional methods for exploring an area of land include trenching and sample drilling. Sample drilling involves drilling an array of holes and determining the amount of aggregate ore within each sample. From this array of samples, prospectors can determine what may be potentially efficient locations to place the heavy machinery and ore processing equipment. However, drilling an array of holes requires moving the drilling equipment through the mining area and physically removing a ground sample. Obstructing materials such as trees, brush, or rocks often must be cleared before equipment may be placed in a desired location. This process may be harmful to the environment and requires the labor-intensive processes of clearing obstructions and positioning drilling equipment.
Other traditional methods for exploring an area of land include taking ground conductivity measurements and using surface-level ground penetrating radar. Ground conductivity measurements may be taken from an aerial vehicle by driving a coil into the ground and measuring the response to a low frequency output. However, this measurement technique may be complicated by variations within the ground water content. Ground penetrating radar involves searching for aggregate, oil, gas, or other target substances by moving a radar device over an area. However, these systems often include a limited penetration distance below a ground surface and may prove difficult to calibrate. Even with such other methods, ground samples are typically taken to verify the presence of aggregate, oil, gas, or other target substances.